The Aliens Act 1905 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.[2] The Act for the first time introduced immigration controls and registration, and gave the Home Secretary overall responsibility for immigration and nationality matters.[2] The Act was designed to prevent paupers or criminals from entering the country and set up a mechanism to deport those who slipped through. One of its main objectives was to control Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe.[3] Although it remained in force the 1905 Act was effectively subsumed by the Alien Restriction Act 1914 that introduced far more restrictive provsions. It was eventually repealed by the Aliens Restriction Act 1919.

By the turn of the century, a popular and media backlash had begun.[3] The British Brothers League was formed, with the support of prominent politicians, organising marches and petitions.[3] At rallies, its speakers said that Britain should not become "the dumping ground for the scum of Europe".[3] In 1905, an editorial in the Manchester Evening Chronicle[4] wrote "that the dirty, destitute, diseased, verminous and criminal foreigner who dumps himself on our soil and rates simultaneously, shall be forbidden to land".

Feldman, David. "Was the Nineteenth Century a Golden Age for Immigrants?" in Andreas Fahrmeir et al., eds. Migration Control in the North Atlantic World: The Evolution of State Practices in Europe and the United States from the French Revolution to the Inter-War Period (2003), pp 167–77 shows the actual impact of the 1905 law was small and largely bureaucratic.